The young sorceress frowned, closed the book, and picked up another before looking around—still no Thor, which was a good thing. Learning how to use a sword, useful, punching people in the face, which included an incredibly annoying brother and friends, amusing, but books were better.

“Found it,” she grinned happily and crossed the room to sit near the stairs. Mother wouldn’t be amused if she found her skipping training, probably, maybe, you never knew with Freya. But she had finished her magical studies for the day, and the book was calling her name.

“The prince and the chambermaid,” a warm voice said from over her shoulder. “Oh nice, the third in the series.”

Spinning around with a squeak, she cried, “Who are you?”

Although surprised, the young sorceress couldn’t help but blush as the gorgeous young man with messy black hair and glowing green eyes smiled.

“Name is Harry or Haraldur; either is fine.”

“Did my mother send you to find me?”

The young man laughed. “No, your secret is safe, little princess.”

“Secret?”

“You’re hiding from Baldr, right?

The young sorceress frowned, then sighed, not understanding why she trusted this stranger; she explained, “Maybe. I don’t like him. I know we need to learn how to defend ourselves, but he favors Thor too much. I also overheard that he doesn’t even think I should be on the training fields.”

Taking a seat beside her, the young man nodded in understanding. “May I give you some advice? You don’t have to take it, as it’s not really my business, but speak to your mother before you do something you will regret later.”

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“She won’t do anything,” the young sorceress huffed.

“You would be surprised.”

“I guess.” Noticing that Harry kept an eye on the wall beyond the stairs, she asked, “Why are you looking behind us?”

“Well, it’s the reason why I disturbed your reading time, little princess. A group of individuals who believe they have the right to change things will arrive in a few minutes. Three, well, coworkers of mine claim they can’t do their work properly with someone messing with things. To tell you the truth, the amount of paperwork this group is causing gives me a headache.”

“Paperwork?”

“Think of it as adult homework.”

Before she could say anything else, as Haraldur predicted, a portal opened up on the wall behind them. A group of individuals in black armor burst into the library but stopped when he raised his hand.

Standing up, still clutching her book, she exclaimed excitedly, “You know magic.”

“I do.” He gave her a lopsided grin, which made her stomach all funny. “Now, I need to go and chastise these good people and their superiors. It was a pleasure meeting you, Loki.”

“Only my father calls me that; I prefer Sylvie,” she said with a smile, then asked. “Will I see you again?”

The young man looked down at her, murmured something which sounded like, in for a penny, and said, “Speak to your aunt Freyja. Tell her that Haraldur requires that she and her valkyrjur are responsible for your training. Can you do that, Sylvie?”

“If she trains me, will I see you again?”

“Perhaps,” he said with a warm laugh, then rubbed her head before disappearing through the portal with his captives floating behind.

With a happy squeal, the young princess ran out of the library, all thoughts of pranks forgotten.